Prince For European MTV Awards

The stars come out at the Brandenburg Gate

AS HOT PRESS was being put to bed, the artist formerly known as Prince was confirmed as the latest major star who will perform at MTV’s 1st Annual European Music Awards Show.

The event, already identified as one of the most prestigious in the European music calendar, takes place at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on November 24th and will be broadcast live on MTV at 7pm, Irish time. The show, which will last for two and a half hours in total, will be repeated on MTV on the same evening, beginning at 10.30pm and again on Friday 25th at 7pm.

Among the other artists who have been lined up to perform on the night are Ace of Base, Aerosmith, Bjork, Eros Ramazzotti, Roxette, Take That and Therapy? Other special guests are likely to be added to the bill, with George Michael among those being rumoured as possible contenders.

“We can confirm Prince’s involvement,” MTV’s Director of Press and Publicity, Christine Gorham told Hot Press, “but there is no certainty about George Michael. I can tell you that he has been approached, but that’s all.” However, as D-Day looms for MTV’s European operation, the big names were falling ever more certainly into place. Tom Jones, for example, has been lined up to host the TV spectacular and he will be on-stage throughout the night to introduce the all-star line-up of performers and presenters.

In the latter department, the names are mighty impressive too, with Michael Hutchence of INXS, Naomi Campbell, East 17, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Neneh Cherry and Helena Christensen, amongst others, all lined up to do the honours.

MTV have chosen Berlin as the location for the inaugural awards because of the city’s unique mix of internationalism and youthful vibrancy. The show will be broadcast to a potential audience of 239 million homes from the largest temporary structure ever built, in Berlin’s Pariser Platz. On the night, the super-structure will accommodate an audience of 2,500, and the show will involve a production team in excess of 300-strong.

Christine Gorham is confident that the show will be a spectacular one – but, equally importantly, that it will work for people at home and make exciting television. “This is our great expertise,” she commented, “which was very much in evidence at the MTV music video awards in New York this year. We are the experts in music television and we have developed the ability to do an awards show live, which runs for two hours, and remains exciting throughout.

“I have seen all of the other awards shows and there is a great danger of boring people. That’s why the live performances are so important. Each artist has a unique way of playing. They rehearse it thoroughly, and we take great care with how that is brought to the screen.”

Central to that objective will be the production crew, headed by Ned O’Hanlon of Dreamchaser Productions, who handled the TV elements of U2’s Zooropa extravaganza. And if that suggests that an appearance by a member or members of the fab four might just be on the cards, no one at MTV is even hinting at it.

Stranger things, of course, have happened.

• MTV Europe’s 1st Annual European Music Awards Show takes place on Thursday 24th November, starting at 7pm, and will be broadcast live on MTV.